Thief: Primal Scream
by Jon Repesh
Summary: Four objects were needed to expel the Primal from Erin. Three were known. Can you uncover the fourth before Garrett?


Here seethes The City, a medieval nightmare braved daily by virtuous and venal alike. Corruption fights decadence for dominion of urban decay. Alas all vices vie for that base distinction. Then deepen the discord with shifting times. Old methods cast aside by doctrine hellbent on hegemony. Skilled artisans replaced by machines that forsake any craft trapped in stasis. Sacred religions scorned by skeptics who deem the human mind the sole sanctity worth worship. The arcane and sublime clash for control of a populace considered beyond control, or even salvage. This divide bodes ill for those inflexible to change or intolerable to progress. Opposing groups strive for influence by any means present, with no mercy shown those resistant to a new order. The victims are varied, comprising citizens and customs. Whatever stands in obstruction is null. Might is right, and let no light hinder the ordained path. This is their tenet, and hell forbid the pious or pagan who reject allegiance to the temple of tyranny.

Garrett the master thief reflects on recent events, all wearing heavily on his ravaged soul. Erin's fate and the primal force are forever entwined in tragedy, with thoughts further darkened by his own doing. Was a different outcome possible, or were results predestined beforehand. As a scoffer of destiny the regrets only grow, with her final accusations stinging worse. He knows in his vocation the unexpected is common, with reckless behavior aggravating an already risky situation. He tried to impart that very viewpoint upon her, but to no avail. Still he feels responsible. He possessed more experience and a cooler head. Yet his own indifference almost guaranteed a dreadful end. Of course dwelling on the past serves nothing. Fortunately Basso has retained a new envoy and bidden work to divert his blackened mood. It's time to trek to a particular inn for a bit of imbibing and professional talk.

"You made it."

"**How could I resist."**

"Resist my charms? Ha. So you got my message."

"**Things are back to normal I see. You got a new bird."**

"Hopefully this one will last longer than the last. Damn I miss her. Who would a thunk it, huh?"

"**Watch out. You'll ruin your reputation."**

"Pfft. Fat chance. So how you been?"

"**You need to ask?"**

"I guess not. Your appearance says it all. You look like shit."

"**Now **_**that's**_** the Basso I know."**

"I'm not trying to _give _you shit, just stating the obvious."

"**It fits how I feel."**

"Still thinking about Erin?"

"**Among other things. We could all use a lift."**

"In this town? Thing'll get worse before they get better."

"**Always the optimist."**

"I'm your friend, not your shrink, though you can get both from a bottle."

"**Then I'm in the right place."**

"Barkeep, set up this miserable sod."

"**Now that I'm here, what do you have for me?"**

"Something to get your mind off things, and serve my needs as well."

"**Should I even ask what your needs are this time?"**

"Would you believe simple self preservation?"

"**I heard you were getting squeezed."**

"Just another victim of the fallout from your affair."

"**You set the damn thing up, and why'd you have to get Erin involved?"**

"She demanded it. You know she loved being part of the action. You inspired her, for better or worse. I couldn't have stopped her if I tried."

"**You're always quick to avoid responsibility."**

"Spare the sermon. You're not the only one who cared, little did that do. She was a good operative. Yeah, she was reckless, but the job isn't favorable to the feint of heart…or a long life."

"**She was just a kid."**

"So were you when you started. It's not a career choice. Some of us have that decision thrust upon us."

"**Is that your excuse?"**

"I don't need to justify myself to you or anybody else, especially one walking in the same shoes…..You're full of venom today."

"**Why should today be any different."**

"It's gotta start sometime, but enough jousting. I summoned you for a reason, a different one than usual."

"**What makes this so different?"**

"Because instead of stealing something, you're going to _return_ something."

"**Have you forgotten what I do?"**

"I know, it's against your nature. But consider the bright side. For a guy like you it'll be a cake walk."

"**Why do the hairs on the back of my neck stand when you flatter me?"**

"Just giving credit where credit's due. My old man said a pat on the back takes little effort yet sparks more effort in the recipient."

"**I feel like a lab experiment."**

"Hardly. You're untrainable anyway. Still one can always use added incentive, and the ego is an excellent means."

"**I thought you weren't my shrink."**

"You give me too much credit. I could never pull the wool over your eyes. I'm just a child of the streets like you. However in our line I'll take street smarts over book every time."

"**What would you know about a book, except the ones you have me steal."**

"Good segue Garrett, because that's exactly what you're returning."

"**The book you had me steal for Orion."**

"Like I said, we all suffered from the consequence of that fiasco. This will help set matters straight."

"**For you perhaps. My consequence is permanent."**

"Still hearing voices….seeing visions of Erin?"

"**It's like my mind is on constant replay, repeating over and over the moment she fell."**

"The subconscious can be a bitch."

"**What are you saying, guilt is causing the visions?"**

"Who knows. That's above my pay grade, though it's a logical conclusion."

"**Since when does a man fueled by base emotions think logically?"**

"…..When his friend is tormented."

"**Now you're really starting to scare me, logic and compassion in the span of seconds."**

"What can I say. I'm a renaissance man."

"**Right….Okay. You're on. Have the book ready in an hour. Right now I have another engagement."**

"Anyone I know?"

"**The Queen."**

Garrett swiftly traverses roof tops and darkened alleys to reach the west side. His contact is a wizened woman who employs a vast network of informants. Her commerce is knowledge. She's thought to possess all facts pertinent to City affairs. Her sway is considerable. She's both prized and feared. Just her presence affects results, though she prefers anonymity. In addition insight and intuition have earned the appellation oracle. Some however merely confer for consolation and assurance. For loners like Garrett, he disdains enlisting anyone outside his inner circle. Yet his troubled mind could benefit from sage advice.

"I was wondering if you'd show."

"**Was there any doubt?"**

"Our actions are often determined by preceeding events that leave little choice."

"**You're enlightening the wrong person. I don't believe in providence."**

"You don't have to believe to play your part in the grand procession."

"**Is that what you call life? I can think of worse descriptions than grand."**

"Nevertheless life is a series of connected events which affect not only our actions but our very being."

"**Then who are you, and what is **_**your**_** part? To speak in riddles?"**

"Why would one seek answers if not couched in questions. You did see me after all."

"**Desperate times demand desperate measures."**

"You're hardly desperate Garrett. Confused perhaps. Angry most certainly. However at times like this bad decisions make matters only worse."

"**Bad decisions appear to be at the heart of my pain."**

"Yet your pain is _in _your heart, a most common place. Though I imagine it feels good somewhat, especially for one afflicted by an absence of feeling."

"**This dark place drains emotion right out of you. For most of us it started long ago….too long to remember any other way."**

"That's the price we pay for our physical surroundings, yet the final effect on our mental outlook is _not_ set in stone."

"**What if one possesses a heart of stone?"**

"I don't believe that for a moment, but you're the one who has to believe. You simply being here must tell you something."

"**What if I don't want to listen?"**

"You're referring to the visions. So they haven't stopped."

"**If anything they're getting worse. They come in greater frequency, greater intensity. Sometimes I think I'm going out of my mind."**

"The mind is a fragile thing. It deals with tragedy in different ways in different people."

"**Basso thinks it's guilt arising from my subconscious."**

"Manifesting in ghostly apparitions. Perhaps it's not the visions themselves that are important but what they're revealing, and what they are saying to you personally."

"**I'm not sure they're revealing anything. She keeps screaming the same words. Garrett, I'm slipping. Give me the claw."**

"That was a device she used."

"**I scorned its use, but to her it was important. She designed it. Besides being a climbing tool, it symbolized her independence and possible superiority over me." **

"Perhaps there is significance besides the obvious."

"**I've analyzed it backwards and forwards. Nothing comes."**

"Leading Basso to arrive at a psychological basis. But forget about him. What do _you _think?"

"**I think she's alive."**

"Then follow your instincts and find her. But do so quickly, before it truly is too late."

"**First I have a related task to complete."**

"Your quest may require a succession of tasks to attain. We're talking arcane forces beyond the scope of mortal man."

"**Which is what created this predicament in the first place, short sighted men seeking **_**immortality**_**."**

"Demanding a combination of perceptive hindsight and prudent foresight to correct."

"**Then it's damn well time I made some corrections."**

A quick turnaround brings Garrett back to Basso's den.

"**I'm here Basso. Give me the book so I can get on with it."**

"….You're not going to believe this…It's gone."

"**What do you mean it's gone?"**

"Like it's gone! It's not here."

"**What the hell happened to it?"**

"I don't know. Three hours ago I was looking through it, then I placed it in a secure spot. Not more than ten minutes ago I went to retrieve it, and it was gone."

"**That spot obviously wasn't so secure."**

"But it was. No one knew its location."

"**Somebody must have. Who else knew about the book?"**

"I don't confide my affairs to anyone. You know that. I'm a middle man. People employ me. I employ people. The only ones who knew were Orion…..and you."

"**I didn't like the emphasis placed on the end of that sentence."**

"Don't be crazy. I don't suspect you. I was going to give you the damn thing to return."

"**Exactly how secure was this location?"**

"It was privy solely to me…Yet there's another mystery. The container was opened in a strange way."

"**How strange?"**

"Physical force was not used. It's as if something…..unnatural opened it."

"**The Primal!"**

"I was thinking the same thing."

"**If that's true, it leaves the Attuned…..or Erin."**

"The Attuned are scattered in disarray. As for Erin…maybe she is alive."

"**To channel the Primal required certain objects. The book, the ring, the stone. Still they were never able to control it. A part was missing. They thought it was my eye, but they were wrong."**

"If Erin is alive, if that's the word, why would she be collecting these objects?"

"**To release the Primal from within her. What I witnessed was torment. The human body is incapable of being a receptacle for such great power."**

"Nor apparently the human mind."

"**Within time it'll destroy both."**

"If a group of objects are all pieces to a mystical puzzle, they must each retain some physical property unique and vital to the whole. You may need to consult a chemist."

"**How about an **_**alchemist**_**."**

"Maybe we concluded wrong. We believed the book's value was in the printed word upon the page…."

"**When it was the pages themselves that were critical, or the paper used to make the pages."**

"The book is old, hundreds of years old. Yet there was little decay. I never gave it much thought before, but now…."

"**It must be a special parchment. Who created the book?"**

"Would you believe Druids?"

"…**Those damn fools. Thinking the Primal was some almighty power dispatched from the heavens, when all along its origin had a southernly source."**

"Hell! But how does this help uncover the missing piece of the puzzle?"

"**I need to talk to the Queen again."**

A return trip reunites Garret and the Queen.

"Back so soon. That can only mean more questions."

"**You're renowned for insight. I have need of that skill."**

"Insight requires specific input to analyze. I take it you've considered something new."

"**The book that is crucial to this whole affair is missing."**

"Meaning another party has joined the fray."

"**Unfortunately."**

"Perhaps, but let's put a positive spin on a negative development. Instead of raising more questions, it may provide some answers….if we know how to look."

"**It all comes down to the significance of the book."**

"Or its significance to some _one_."

"**Either the Attuned or Erin. Basso and I ruled out the Attuned."**

"Under the circumstances I agree. This could be propitious for you."

"**She seemingly needs the book to expel the Primal from her."**

"Yet remember the visions and what we spoke of earlier. What are they saying to you? What does the book's disappearance tell you?"

"**What are **_**you **_**saying? There's more to the theft than practical purpose?"**

"Now _you _must attune, and unlike before be willing to listen."

"**It's all a puzzle, and pieces are needed to control the Primal. But a piece is missing, and its substance is the key."**

"The book's disappearance further enforces the message. It must come down to the visions. Think!"

"**I have. It's just a replay of her fall. The more I think about it, the more Basso's conclusion makes sense."**

"Yet we're discussing a non-sensible situation. The fantastic, the supernatural…"

"**Alchemy."**

"You were there when she fell. What other object present was made from a rare substance?"

"**It's not the house. It's an old structure built with wood, and the glass can be found anywhere."**

"What were you carrying? Your tools perhaps."

"**I use rope made from hemp, and arrows forged from steel."**

"All quite common. Still through the Primal she's communicating to you."

"**If I hear her scream 'I'm slipping' one more time **_**I'll**_** scream."**

"When this happened, she never asked you to grab her?"

"**No. All she asked for was…"**

At that point a shocking realization hits Garrett. The answer was right before him all the time. He now knows the missing piece and where to retrieve it. All that remains is a return to Moira, a hellish asylum where hell itself manifested in a force spawned from that infernal realm.

"**Erin!"**

Silence.

"**Erin! I know you're here."**

Silence.

"**Okay. If you don't want to talk, just listen. I've been doing a lot of that myself lately….to others, but more importantly to voices in my head. And guess whose voice keeps repeating over and over?"**

"Losing your mind Garrett?"

"**I thought I was, until people who cared told me otherwise."**

"Having someone to care about you is a rarity in these times."

"**And someone to care **_**about**_**."**

"Who do you care about Garrett, truly care about…..besides yourself?"

"**Would you believe….you?"**

"My my. Talk is cheap. It's easy to say certain words, but showing it with deeds? That's where the true test lies."

"**I'm sorry Erin. I did fail the test, but not from lack of caring."**

"Lack of character perhaps?"

"**If you believed that, we wouldn't be talking now."**

"I trusted you. I believed in _you_."

"**You were reckless. You made bad decisions. You killed! I warned you, because despite all that…..I cared."**

"People you care about don't end so well, do they?"

"**Is that just my fault? Now who needs to accept responsibility."**

"I've done a lot of reflecting lately…..and it makes me angrier and angrier."

"**You always were angry. In that regard we're alike. Yet I'm able to control and channel my anger. It's why I do what I do. It's a release for all the energy inside me."**

"Maybe I don't want a release. Maybe I want to feed off the anger."

"**Is that what the Primal's doing? Allowing you to feed off **_**its**_** anger? It is angry, isn't it?"**

"Shit. It's a raging beast."

"**Did it seek you, look for a kindred spirit?"**

"There was a mutual spark. I was…..attuned."

"**Sparks burn out, you know. And the hotter the spark, the faster the burn."**

"Speaking from experience?"

"**Speaking from witnessing those enticed and later wish they weren't."**

"Some of us weren't meant for long relationships. You of all people understand."

"**I do. In fact I'm here to quicken**_** your**_** breakup."**

"You're not my type Garrett. I like bad boys, and lately you haven't measured up."

"**Then if I can't have you, no one shall."**

"Jealous?"

"**No. Protective. You did consider me a big brother, one you never had. So let me play the part."**

"You really do care, don't you?"

"**So much so I brought you a present."**

"And it's not even my birthday."

"**Let's consider it a coming out party, as in the Primal coming out of you!"**

"How do you intend to do that?"

"**Objects, a few already known. A book, a ring, a stone. And one missing element."**

"How did you identify this element?"

"**Through you."**

"Me?"

"**You told me."**

"When?"

"**In my visions, over and over."**

"I told you about the missing object?"

"**You didn't exactly tell me. You asked for it. You asked me to give it to you."**

"What did I ask you to give me?"

"**I'll never forget those words. Four simple words. But why talk about it. Here, let me show you."**

"No!"

"**I thought you'd be happy to see it, or relieved. After all, you wanted me to give it to you. You remember what you said? What you screamed to me before you fell? Garrett, I'm slipping. Give me the claw!"**

The claw! The missing object, made from a rare metal unearthed hundreds of years ago. The puzzle is complete. Four specific objects which first created a conduit for psychic entry are now inducing expulsion. Intense light and energy radiate from Erin's form. Unnatural forces fight to escape. Her body racks with convulsions and tremors, her general condition an unfortunate result of expediency and cruel fate. With one final spasm the Primal retracts and flees into the ether. She abruptly slumps at Garrett's feet. He bends to comfort her and detects shallow breathing. On the surface she's stable and physically sound. But what of her mind, her troubled soul? For one young woman, more primal screams await.


End file.
